A synthesis report of the Africa Region - Women, agriculture and rural development

Transcription

1 A synthesis report of the Africa Region - Women, agriculture and rural development Compiled from the national sectoral reports for: Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe Prepared under the auspices of FAO's Programme of Assistance in Support of Rural Women in Preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women Women in Development Service Women and Population Division Sustainable Development Department FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome 1995 This report was prepared under the auspices of FAO's Programme of Assistance in Support of Rural Women in Preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women and follows the Guidelines prepared by FAO for reporting on the status of women within the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors, to ensure that the situation of rural women is adequately addressed in policy and decision-making debates. The opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the position of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 1

2 Contents Executive summary Abbreviations and acronyms Methodology Introduction Review and appraisal at the national level The situation in the early 1980s Changes since the early 1980s Inequality in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women Lack of awareness of, and commitment to, internationally and nationally recognized women's rights Poverty Inequality in women's access to, and participation in, the definition of economic structures and the productive process itself Inequality in access to employment Selected programmes in support of women in agriculture, forestry-and fisheries Future strategic goals and objectives Conclusion Bibliography 2

3 Review and appraisal at the national level The situation in the early 1980s In the early 1980s, while the population grew rapidly, food production and agricultural incomes decreased in many African countries. Government allocations to agriculture declined in many countries as the global recession resulted in a renewed preoccupation with growth as opposed to equity concerns. Against this background, the situation of rural women was characterized by overwork, low productivity, little access to credit, land, training, and the use of rudimentary technology. In many countries (Tanzania, Benin, Mauritania, Namibia, Zimbabwe) the diminishing capacity of agriculture to provide for household subsistence increased the workload shouldered by women as men withdrew their labour from agriculture. Women had to increasingly make up for the family's food deficit by working as casual hired labour on larger farms, or by starting up income generating activities in addition to continuing their farming activities. At the same time, government interventions did little to address the plight of rural women as, in most countries, the agricultural sector continued to be neglected. Women's low participation in national and regional policy-making, their invisibility in national statistics and their low participation in extension services (with the exception of home economics programmes) has meant that those issues of most concern to women have been neglected in the design and implementation of many development policies and programmer. When women were targeted as beneficiaries, it was generally in their reproductive capacity or as targets of welfare interventions. Small, dispersed "women-specific" projects, or project components focusing on their productive role in agriculture, remained isolated from national agricultural planning and policies. In some countries such as Benin, while the government paid increasing attention to the economic role of women, the programmes developed were far from addressing the main concerns of women as they were neither involved in policy making decisions nor were they directly consulted to articulate their needs. In some countries, despite legislative and tenure changes in favour of smallholders, women continued to be placed in a disadvantaged position in terms of access to land. As the amount of land cultivated per person declined in the face of increased population pressure and decreased areas of growth for arable and permanent crops, women's access to land was only rarely addressed and thus their benefits from land reforms were few (FAO, 1988:3). Without land, women were generally excluded from agricultural cooperatives as membership was often based on land ownership. Emphasis on commercial agriculture and export crops also restricted access to credit and other services for the traditional farming sector, where most of the farmers are women. Extension research and services focused on export or cash crops and sophisticated farm mechanization; issues which were not relevant to women's subsistence needs. In Namibia, where black women are the majority of producers in the subsistence sector (communal areas), government institutions and resources focused on the commercial sector, and in those cases in which government interventions did reach the communal areas, they targeted elite farmers and were of little benefit to women. 3

4 In those countries in which traditional models of production co-existed with state run farms and/or cooperatives, women were responsible for a variety of tasks. For example, in Benin, rural women provided labour to the families commercial plots, were responsible for household food production and processing, and also had to work in the cooperative structures set up by the State in addition to their household tasks. In countries following a capitalist model, women worked just as hard, contributing labour to the household commercial plot, farming their own plot for subsistence, processing and preparing food for the family, and covering a variety of household and community needs, including health and child care. It was during this period, however, due in part to the recommendations coming out of the first two world conferences on women (Mexico City in 1975 and Copenhagen in 1980) and the UN Decade for Women, that issues concerning women were put on the international agenda and governments, including those in Africa, began to establish bodies responsible for the promotion of women's interests. These bodies promoted an awareness of women's issues, including those of rural women, and encouraged research on their agricultural and other roles. They also served as advocates for changes in national policies and legislation affecting women's rights to land and inheritance, employment conditions, and wage rates. In Africa, the creation of national women's machineries was a critically important step in ensuring that women's needs and constraints were put on the national policy agenda. However, their technical weaknesses, frequent location in the Ministries of Social Affairs (or in the women's branch of the revolutionary party in the countries following a socialist development model), urban bias, and their lack of influence in the technical ministries meant that their direct impact on rural women was negligible, and that interventions designed by them often focused on smaller income generating projects which did not adequately address women's needs for assistance concomitant with their agricultural production responsibilities (FAO, 1990b:5). The general isolation of the machineries from the planning ministries also meant that women's needs and potentials were not given adequate attention in the development of national strategies and plans. Changes since the early 1980s Inequality in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels Members and office bearers of agricultural/rural organizations In the nine countries examined, as throughout Africa in general, while women are present in greater and lesser degrees in agricultural/rural organizations, they tend to comprise a low proportion of the membership and are often not represented in the higher levels of leadership. In addition to the socio-cultural factors which often limit women's participation in these organizations, other constraints include women's limited time and energy, limited formal land ownership and rights to land resources (which is often used as a criteria for membership), and the commercial bias of many of the organizations and subsequent neglect of those issues of concern to women farmers. In some countries, women's groups and cooperatives have been set up to balance their lack of representation in existing rural organizations (Congo, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia and Zimbabwe) while, in others, NGOs have played an increasingly important role in seeing that rural women's needs are addressed (Morocco). 4

5 Table 3 summarizes information regarding female membership in agricultural and rural organizations including cooperatives, credit and farming which remains quite low. Their membership in pre-cooperatives and cooperatives ranges from 6% in Morocco to 44% in Tanzania. Women's membership in credit institutions ranges from a low of 15% in Tanzania to a high of 63% in Zimbabwe, and their membership in farmers organizations ranges from 2% in the Sudan to 75% in Zimbabwe. Table 3: Women's Participation in Rural Organizations (percent) Country Pre-cooperatives and Cooperatives Credit Associations Farmers Associations Members Officers a Members Officers Members Officers Benin b Burkina Faso Mauritania Morocco 20 c 6 d Namibia Sudan Tanzania 44 e 15 Zimbabwe a Office bearers, board members and supervisory committee members b 12% of supervisory committee members and 14% of administrative council members are women c Pre-cooperatives d Cooperatives e Data is for Zanzibar While women's membership is most often limited by their lack of formal land ownership, many rural organizations emphasize the interests of male members and do not sufficiently concern themselves with the needs of rural women. For instance, the Namibia National Farmers Union was established in 1992 to provide a voice and organizational base for communal farmers, and women comprise 30-60% of affiliate associations. However, its activities stress marketing and surplus production for the commercial farming sector rather than subsistence production and food processing. Women's participation as office holders in these organizations tends to be even more limited. The most striking example is in Zimbabwe, where despite the fact that women constitute 75% of the members in the Zimbabwe Farmers Unions, only 5 % of the officers are women. The largest number of women decision makers are found in the Sudan, where 14% of the office holders in agricultural graduates cooperatives are women. Several countries reported a growth since the early 1980s in women's participation in rural organizations and in the number of women-only pre-cooperatives and cooperatives. In Benin, women's membership in pre-cooperatives grew from practically no women in 1980 to 4.6% in 5

6 1985 and to 12% in In Burkina Faso, while women represented only 9% of all members in village working groups in 1981, by 1992 women's village groups accounted for 20% of the total. In Mauritania, the female cooperative movement grew from 15 cooperatives in 1982 to more than 500 together with mixed cooperatives in In the Sudan, women's cooperatives increased from 14 in 1980/81 to 50 in 1992/93, although membership in these cooperatives includes both women and men. In Zanzibar, female membership in cooperative agricultural organizations increased from 21% in 1985 to 44% in Statistics on women's participation in the different types of organizations were unavailable in many countries. As the work of these institutions is important for rural development, more information needs to be collected on women's participation in such institutions in order to identify and address the constraints women face in accessing these resources. Research should also be conducted in countries where women's participation is increasing to identify the factors behind such growth and to evaluate their replicability elsewhere. Women in decision-making positions in ministries and government bodies In Africa, few women hold policy making positions at the national level, and those that do tend to be concentrated in social ministries such as education and health. Only rarely do women hold such positions technical ministries such as agriculture, which has many implications for the policies generated there. While one's biological sex does not necessarily determine one's sensitivity to gender, it has been shown that increased female participation has an impact on policies in regard to the importance given to women's issues and concerns. Overall, as illustrated in Table 4, women hold an extremely low number of decision making positions in the Ministries dealing with agriculture and rural development. Women's representation is highest in Namibia in the Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, and in the Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing, with 22 and 25% women decision-makers respectively. Women hold the fewest decision-making positions in Zimbabwe's Ministry of Lands, Agricultural and Water Development (0.1 and 0.3% respectively for the Departments of Tsetse Control and Water Development). Women's representation is also low in governmental or parastatal committees which address complex legal and political issues. In Namibia, the two commissions of relevance for rural women include the Technical Committee on Commercial Farmland and the Commission of Inquiry into Traditional Leadership. The former has only one woman while the latter has none. In addition, of the seven members of the National Task Force on Agricultural Policy, only one is a woman. In Zimbabwe, in the parastatal Agricultural Development Authority, women account for only 6% of the policy-makers. 6

7 Table 4: Female Decision-makers In Ministries and/or Technical Staff (percent) Country and Ministry BENIN Percent Female Ministry of Rural Development 7.3 BURKINA FASO CONGO MAURITANIA Ministry of Fishing and the Maritime Economy 1.9 Ministry of Rural Development and the Environment 1.5 MOROCCO Ministry of Agriculture 1 NAMIBIA Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development 5 Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation 22 Ministry of Regional and Local Government and Housing 25 SUDAN Ministry of Agriculture 2 Ministry of Animal Resources 2 TANZANIA ZIMBABWE Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Water Development - Head Office and Education Branch Department of Research and Specialist Services Department of Veterinary Services Department of Tsetse Control Department of Water Development Department of the Surveyor General Agricultural Development Authority 6 Women's representation in local power structures Women's representation is also negligible in the local power structures and traditional bodies in Africa, where decisions concerning land allocation and resource development have important implications for rural women. Data contained in the sectoral reports confirmed the low participation of women in these structures. 7

8 In terms of participation in local governing authorities, women are rarely represented in the municipality councils in Mauritania and Morocco. In Mauritania, of the 208 municipalities created in 1986, only one mayor is a woman, while in Morocco women occupied only 0.3% of municipality seats in 1993, up slightly from 0.2% in In Namibia, women's participation is higher due to an affirmative action provision for the first elections of local authorities, which stipulated that party lists must include a minimum number of women candidates; 31.5% of the seats in the local authority councils are held by women. 4 In Tanzania, out of 4,850 village committee members in seven regions, as of 1989 only 10.3 % were women. A positive development was the 1992 local government legislative reform which called for 25% of the members of the Village Assembly to be women. However, in many locations women constituted less than 1% of the candidates in the 1993 local government elections. In Zimbabwe, women represent only 10% of the Village Development Committees, which consist of democratically elected members from the village, and control the development and use of land resources in their villages. ( 4 Given that future elections will be contested on the basis of individual candidates rather than on party lists, this provision will no longer apply.) Women's representation at the district and provincial levels is similarly low. In Zimbabwe, women comprise only 10% of the District Councils, the body which allocates resources for development in their districts. In Namibia, only 3 of the 95 elected to the regional councils, which represent rural constituencies outside of small towns, were women. In Tanzania, at the provincial and district levels, women's participation remains low with the highest number of women (20%) serving as regional administration officers. There are no female land officers nor regional agricultural or livestock officers and only one regional community development officer. In both Namibia and Zimbabwe, women's representation in traditional authorities is minimal. In Namibia, where traditional authorities hold responsibility for allocating land and adjudicating disputes, women's lack of representation in such authorities has serious implications. Women's participation in village and municipality authorities and district and provincial councils is low in all of the countries examined, which in turn inhibits their ability to influence resource allocation. By far the highest female participation (31.5%) is found in Namibia, where an affirmative action provision ensured that a minimum number of women candidates ran in the local elections. Tanzania instituted a similar provision in 1992, setting a minimum number of seats in the Village Assembly which must be held by women. While the results of such policies have been mixed, they deserve further exploration throughout Africa. Gender relations in decision-making in farming activities In Africa, while it appears that decision-making rests with the male household head when present, the sharing of decision-making between genders varies substantially from country to country, and among different cultural and ethnic groups within the same country. In most countries in Africa, women tend to have decision-making power over their own fields while males dominate decision-making for household plots. In Morocco, with the exception of those fields managed exclusively by women, men generally have almost all the decision-making 8

9 power as they are the owners of the means of production and, consequently, of the products produced. In Zimbabwe, in male-headed households, men dominate all decision making. Women's decision-making power tends to increase in many countries when the husband is not present; however, men may remain involved in many of the most important decisions. In Namibia, as the participation of men in farming activities decreases, the authority of women over the agricultural processes may well be increasing. In Zimbabwe, women whose husbands are away have substantially more decision-making power than those with husbands on the farm, and women dominate farm management decisions and activities such as planting, ploughing, weeding and harvesting, among others. Even in these cases, however, the absentee husband still generally decides on how much crop to sell and on the use of the money from crop sales. In other countries such as the Sudan, data for irrigated areas indicates that at the micro level, women are responsible for a wide range of decision making in farming activities even when the husband is present. In Tanzania, decision making in farming activities appears to be shared, with men dominating slightly in those cases when it is not. Additional research is required to accurately assess the division of decision-making, and especially decision making on the use of income within the household. Several studies have indicated that the improvement of household food security and nutritional levels is associated with women's role in household decisions on expenditures (FAO, 1990a). Others point out that women's reactions to economic incentives are different depending upon their ability to make decisions regarding income allocation. For example, women may not be disposed to invest time and energy into the production of cash crops if the income accrues to a male spouse or relative who may not spend it on household food consumption. Insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women National machineries and WID units/focal points In the late 1980s national women's machineries played an increasingly important role in Africa, shifting from a women-specific approach towards a mainstreaming approach in development projects, programmes and policies. 5 This shift has helped such machineries to break out of the marginalized position in which they found themselves by establishing focal points in the technical ministries in order to ensure that women's needs and concerns were addressed in 'mainstream' development projects, and not just those aimed exclusively at women. National women's machineries have begun to conduct gender and socio-economic analysis training programmes to sensitize government officials on the importance of incorporating gender considerations into the development process. 6 ( 5 The term mainstreaming has a number of different uses and meanings and stems from the recognition that women and women's concerns have often been marginal or invisible to largescale development planning and debates. Mainstreaming approaches range from allocating resources to women's activities to incorporating women and women's concerns into policy and decision-making bodies, or into mainstream development. 9

10 ( 6 Training in socio-economic and gender analysis provides tools for analyzing the gender-based division of labour and its impact on the ownership and control of resources, as well as other power relations between women and men.) With the exception of Sudan, all of the countries examined have a national machinery for the advancement of women. The degree to which the machineries have been able to address the particular needs of rural women has varied, as has their status in the government and availability of financial resources. Table 5 provides an overview of the national women's machineries as well as the WID units or focal points in the technical ministries. The sectoral reports noted some of the already well documented limitations of women's machineries throughout the world: restricted financial and human resources and the lack of communication channels with technical ministries and departments and other bodies dealing with gender issues. As seen in Table 5, many of the national machineries have focal points in the technical ministries, an important first step in mainstreaming gender issues. Others support interministerial committees on gender and rural development issues. Whatever the arrangement, it appears that this approach has given the machineries an entry point in the technical ministries and thus a means to influence policies in technical areas more directly. All of the countries examined, with the exception of Zimbabwe, Mauritania and Morocco, have WID units or focal points in the ministries dealing with rural development. While some are formally attached to the national women's machineries, others are autonomous. The location of the WID unit within the ministries influences its role; those in the planning and policy units concentrate on the policy level, while those located in more technical departments, including extension, focus on integrating women into particular projects. While the sectoral report for Benin mentions that the SPAFR is limited by its location in the Directorate for Rural Promotion and Legislation, where it has little to do with preparing and executing the Ministry's rural development projects, its macro level position may well enable it to have a more far-reaching impact at the policy level. Considerable progress has been made in institutionalizing WID units within the technical ministries throughout Africa, and in sensitizing these ministries to WID/gender issues. Nevertheless, these units tend to suffer from a lack of coordination and communication with other relevant bodies, including the national women's machineries, and from financial and human resource limitations and lack of support from the Ministry as a whole. In Benin, for example, the SPAFR has only three staff members. In Burkina Faso, it is urgent that a coordinating mechanism be put in place in the Ministry of Agriculture and between the Ministry and the other partners in the field including the national women's commission. 10

11 Table 5: National Women's Machineries and WID Units/Focal Points in Technical Ministries Country Benin Burkina Faso Congo Year Est. National Machinery 1993 National Commission on the Integration of Women in Development; Ministry of Planning and Economic Reconstruction 1993 National Supervisory Commission for the Implementation of the National Strategies and Plan of Action to Strengthen the Role of Women in the Development Process 1990 Directorate for the Integration of Women in Development Mauritania State Secretariat on the Condition of Women Morocco WID Units/Focal Points in the Technical Ministries Each technical ministry has a WID focal point. In addition, there is an Office for the Promotion of Rural Women's Activities (SPAFR) within the Directorate for Rural Promotion and Legislation, Ministry of Rural Development, which works primarily at the policy level. Each technical ministry has a representative in the Commission. In addition, there is a Bureau for the Promotion of Women's Activities within the Directorate of Agricultural Extension which supports and coordinates the activities of the 12 regional bureaus. WID focal points exist in four of the technical ministries, including the Ministry of Youth and Rural Development. In addition, a Ministry charged with the integration of women in development has recently been created. A technical inter-ministerial committee was created in 1992 to: oversee the activities promoting women, coordinate activities between the different technical departments, and restructure rural development projects to respond to the needs of women. Directorate of Social Affairs; Although no focal point exists within the Ministry of Crafts and Social Ministry of Agriculture, efforts have been Affairs made to see that women participate in existing extension programmes through the creation of regional cells for the mobilization of rural women and the training of female extension agents. Namibia 1990 Department of Women's Affairs; Office of the President Although there are no focal points in the Ministry of Agriculture or other technical ministries at present, plans exist to facilitate an inter-ministerial network on gender issues to be composed of individuals from the line ministries. 11

12 Sudan The Ministry of Agriculture has a number of WID units, including the Women in Agricultural Development Administration and focal points within the Forestry Administration Department, the Soil Conservation and Environment Department, and the Agricultural Extension Administration. There is also a Women in Development Coordinating Unit within the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment. Tanzania 1985 Department of Women's The Union Government Ministry of Affairs; Ministry of Agriculture WID focal point was established Community Development, in 1985 to: liaise with regional focal points and Women's Affairs and Children other agencies responsible for rural - Mainland development; participate in training rural women in agricultural credit and enhancing their entrepreneurial capacities; collaborate with other interested institutions in organizing village-based seminars for women's groups; ensure female participation in, and benefits from, extension programmer; and encourage female leadership in agricultural sciences. In the Zanzibar Ministry of Agriculture, the Unit for Women and Youth, Office of the Commissioner for Research and Farmers Education, was established in 1992 to: promote women's and youth agricultural, livestock, fishing and forestry activities; impart nutrition education to women; raise the economic status of women and youth; and ensure equitable distribution of income based on one's labour contribution Ministry of State for Women and Children, Presidents Office - Zanzibar Zimbabwe 1980 Department of Women's Affairs; Ministry of National Affairs, Cooperatives and Employment Creation Within the Ministry of Land, Agriculture and Water Development, WID issues are administered through the Central Planning Unit. The Department of Agricultural Technical and Extension Services also incorporates WID issues in its Training Branch, and has a senior officer whose duties include liaison on WID issues. 12

13 Role of NGOs The role of national and international NGOs in reaching the rural population in Africa is being increasingly documented. Among their other roles, NGOs often facilitate the exchange of information, train leaders in people's organizations, and promote cooperation among governments and donor agencies on policy issues. The importance of NGOs to rural women varies from country to country, as does their focus on rural issues. In most of the countries examined, the growth in recent years of NGOs and women's associations which pay attention to gender issues has benefited rural women. In Burkina Faso, since 1980 NGOs have been increasingly developing strategies in favour of women in various domains. Certain northern NGOs supported by their governments are very sensitized to the roles of women and intervene to work with local government structures which work with rural women. In the Congo, since the political liberalization of 1990, there has been a flourishing of women's NGOs, some of which work in food production and marketing. In the Sudan, the number of national NGOs working in the area of agriculture has increased to 92, as the number of regional and international NGOs has decreased. These NGOs are implementing 23 projects in the area of food production and processing and 21 projects targeting women in the area of livestock and dairy. In Tanzania, NGOs nave become a dynamic arena for women's empowerment, and support to rural women in agriculture has increased with both the formation of WID units at NGOs headquarters and the increase in community based organizations since Presently, a number of local NGOs under the Tanzania Non-Governmental Organization Umbrella are addressing agriculture, livestock and environmental issues. Many grassroots women's groups are being created and some have succeeded in creating viable economic and training programmer. In addition, an increasing number of international NGOs are dealing with women and agriculture, environment, fisheries, forestry, irrigation, food processing and related activities. In Zimbabwe, there has been a gradual increase in the number of NGOs which focus on rural women (from 30 in 1989 to 53 in 1993). Since 1980, several NGOs have reviewed and evaluated their programmes in an attempt to focus on gender issues and increase the participation of women. Staff gender sensitization programmes have been carried out by a number of NGOs and many studies have been conducted on gender issues as they affect women's access to credit, land and other resources In other countries, such as Namibia and Morocco, despite the increasing number of NGOs, rural women continue to be neglected. In Morocco, the number of NGOs has rapidly multiplied in recent years in response to the privatization of the economy and the disengagement of the State from certain direct interventions. In the last ten years, many organizations which are specifically women-oriented have been created. However, these organizations tend to be concentrated in large cities and primarily focus on issues of concern to urban women. In Namibia, there are few women's groups and NGOs which work to enhance women's role in agriculture and food production and advocate on behalf of women farmers. Information on women's participation in NGOs is scarce, but recent surveys have indicated it is likely to be low. 13

14 Of the women's organizations that do exist, most tend to be dominated by urban-based women and lack a substantial presence in rural regions, particularly in communal areas. Lack of awareness of, and commitment to, internationally and nationally recognized women's rights In Africa, 28 states have ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, one of the most important international treaties articulating the equal rights of women and men in all areas of life, paying special attention to rural women and explicitly referring to women's legal status in terms of land and agrarian reform (United Nations, 1991). Eight of the nine countries examined have ratified or acceded to the Convention, while the majority of which also have national constitutions guaranteeing the equal rights of men and women as well as other supporting legislation on the status of women in particular sectors. However, the existence of national legislation and international conventions does not necessarily guarantee their implementation as both women and men, especially in rural areas, are frequently unaware of such rights. In addition, in many countries discriminatory legislation regarding inheritance and land rights remains, and the coexistence between customary and civil law continues to have negative implications for rural women. In Benin, discriminatory legislative measures persist in the social, economic and political domains. Social and civil legislation is strongly influenced by tradition and customs as women continue to be required to seek their husband's written authorization in certain areas (family planning) and have very limited land use rights. A new family code has recently been prepared and its adoption should facilitate a more equitable situation. In the Congo, in spite of the family code (1984) which stipulates that one of its objectives is to emancipate women, women and children often find themselves homeless after the death of the husband and, in most cases, women are required to have their husband's authority to carry out income earning activities. In Mauritania, the civil modern law continues to coexist with several juridical approaches: Muslim law, black African customary law, arab-bedouin and berbere customary law. While the Moudouana (which governs personal status) was revised in 1993 to protect women's rights in terms of marriage and divorce, other discriminatory legislation continues to exist, including codes under which women's work contracts must be submitted to the husband for approval, and the commerce code which also places women's freedom to exercise a liberal profession under the husband's authority. In Namibia, the Constitution guarantees equal rights for women and provides for affirmative action to redress past imbalances. However, the Constitution also states that all s in force at independence remain in force until repealed or amended by Parliament, and customary and common laws also remain valid, as long as they do not conflict with the Constitution or statutory laws. Thus many discriminatory laws remain intact. Discriminatory marriage laws greatly limit women's authority over children, control over property and access to land and credit. Marriage in community of property (even in civil law marriages) means that married women cannot register property in their own name, they require their husband's consent and signature to enter into contracts and initiate law suits, and are also unable to pledge property as security for credit. 14

15 Women in customary marriages are also dependent on their husband's authority to sell property or enter into contracts. In Tanzania, the existence of a dual legal system limits legal equality between men and women. In addition, some gender discriminatory pieces of legislation, such as the 1971 Marriage Act regarding property and inheritance rights, remain in force. According to customary law, most women in Tanzania do not have rights to land ownership nor to inheritance of family property. In Zimbabwe, despite extensive recent legislation in favour of women, rural women still have problems in terms of legal access to land in communal areas, as traditional attitudes and customs have lagged behind such legislation. Married women have secondary land use rights through their husbands, and upon divorce must vacate the land. In many of the countries examined, measures have been initiated by the government and NGOs to remove discriminatory legislation and to increase awareness of national and international women's rights. However, the extent to which such measures have been able to reach rural women has varied. In Burkina Faso, a commission was created in 1985 to sensitize the population on the "codes des personnel et de la famille". In Mauritania, the State Secretariat on the Condition of Women is presently preparing a new family code, and until ready, a service for family protection has been created to oversee family quarrels and to educate women to their rights and opportunities. In Namibia, the Law Reform and Development Commission includes a Women and Law Committee which will seek to reform civil and customary law in line with the Constitution. Projects are also underway to educate women about their rights and ways of asserting them, though there is some concern that they are not reaching rural women. In the Sudan, legal literacy conferences and workshops have been organized, though the degree to which they have reached rural women is negligible. In Tanzania, the Law Reform Commission was established in 1983 to address gender imbalances, to study the legal aspects contradictory to constitutional rights, and to recommend appropriate changes. However, the law of succession and inheritance, which impinges on women and is detrimental to agrarian transformation with respect to land ownership rights, has yet to be examined. Efforts to promote a more equitable distribution of land culminated in the creation of the Land Reform Commission, whose report on land awaits discussion by government and Parliament. The government has also initiated radio programmes on legal rights and procedures, while NGO initiatives include legal aid clinics and legal literacy campaigns. Similar programmes exist in Zanzibar. In Zimbabwe, several important legislative measures have been introduced in the last ten years to enhance the status of women, including the Matrimonial Causes Act which empowers the court to equitably divide and reallocate property at the dissolution of marriage by divorce (previously customary law had been applied). Similarly, the Deceased Persons Family Maintenance Amendment Act makes it possible for a widow to claim a share of the estate of her husband on the basis of her contribution to its acquisition and entitles her to enjoy the use of crops and animals in the same way as was done prior to her husband's death. In addition, the Deeds Registries Act has made it possible for women to have equal rights with married men in regard to 15

16 acquiring immovable property including land (previously a husband's consent was required for all land purchase transactions). Since 1985, various NGOs working on legal literacy in rural communities have also been formed. While a considerable amount of progress has been made in guaranteeing women's equal rights with men in terms of access to productive resources, in many countries further work is needed both in terms of passing legislation which protects women's legal rights and in enforcing those rights through mass education campaigns, especially in rural areas. Poverty In Africa, rural areas are generally poorer than urban areas and rural women, especially women heads of households, are poorer than men in terms of food security, income, size of land cultivated and technology. These findings are particularly alarming in the face of increasing numbers of rural female-headed households across the continent, where in several countries women headed households account for almost 50% of the total rural households. Factors contributing to poverty in rural areas Economic crises, reforms and structural adjustment programmes. In many of the countries (Burkina Faso, Congo, Mauritania, Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe), structural adjustment programmes implemented in the face of economic crises have had negative impacts on households, and especially rural households. This is due to a variety of reasons, including decreased purchasing power of rural households due to the removal of government subsidies and price controls on food products and essential commodities, decreased government provision of agricultural and social services, and an increased emphasis on commercial crops, among others. Environmental degradation. The negative effects of desertification, deforestation and soil erosion, stemming largely from over-cultivation as well as recurring drought, have limited the ability of small farmers to provide food for their families and for sale. In a mutually reinforcing manner, environmental degradation increases poverty, which in turn threatens the environment, as farmers have no alternative to overexploiting the land or access to alternative sources of energy. Changes in the number of women-headed households. As shown in Table 6, the percentage. of women headed households ranges from 5% in Burkina Faso 7 to 46% in the communal areas of Zimbabwe. The percentage of women headed households is increasing in all of the countries for which data was provided. ( 7 In Burkina Faso there are more female-headed households in urban areas (11%) than in rural areas (5%).) The main factor explaining this trend is the ongoing migration of men to other areas in search of employment due to decreasing returns from agriculture (Burkina Faso, Namibia, Mauritania, Morocco, Tanzania, Zimbabwe) and, in the case of Southern Sudan, to war. The implications are largely negative for the rural population left behind, and especially for the members of female- 16

17 headed households, which are typically associated with increased labour constraints, simpler farming systems, inadequate services and meagre incomes. Table 6: Female headed Households In Rural Areas (percent) Country Early-mid 1980s 1990s Benin 19 (1992) Burkina Faso Congo 22 Mauritania 20 (mid-1980s) b Morocco 15 (1982) 16 Namibia 43 Sudan 24 Tanzania - Mainland (1991) - Zanzibar 27 (1980) 30 (1993) Zimbabwe 46 c 5 a a In some regions the number of female-headed households is considerably higher than the national average (e.g., the Central South region reports that 13%; of rural households are headed by women). b lfad, 1993:74. c In the communal areas, approximately 60% of all households are headed by women. Women headed households are frequently faced with shortages of adult labour, which often results in declining food productivity, especially when coupled with the low level of agricultural inputs received by women farmers. In Morocco, the rural households headed by women are generally small, with 69 % having less than four persons. In Namibia, recent data from the Owarnbo region suggests that, although the size of land holdings between male and femaleheaded households is comparable, the amount cultivated is often lower for the latter due to labour shortages. Labour shortages may also lead women to turn to alternative crops that require less labour inputs, even though they may be less nutritious. Women headed households tend to earn lower incomes than male headed households. Only in Mauritania do women-headed households appear to be better-off. This could be explained by the existence of a certain number of transfers and subsidies towards these households, especially in rural areas. In Benin, male headed rural households have an average revenue of CFA (US$ 96) 8 per consumption unit and save 21 %; those headed by women have an average revenue of only CFA (US$ 85) and save 16%. In the Congo, 75% of the women interviewed in three districts received less than 200, 000 CFA (US$ 390) per year, which is insufficient to cover 17

18 subsistence expenses. In Tanzania, surveys indicate that rural women headed households have the lowest cash income. In 1985, female-headed households earned 10% of female urban household earnings and 25 % of male-headed households in communal areas. In 1990, significant improvements were noted with female-headed households earning 61% of male headed households. In Zimbabwe, statistical indicators show that in terms of household income, rural women headed households were 40% poorer than male headed households and 90% poorer than women headed households in urban areas. ( 8 At the rate of US$ 1 = 512 CFA; November 1994) Women headed households tend to have access to smaller and less fertile plots of land, and more limited access to the means of production than male headed households. In Zimbabwe, in the communal sector female-headed households are likely to be allocated smaller parcels of land than male-headed households. Findings from a recent survey suggest that de jure female headed households had the smallest farm sizes, varying from 40 to 80% of the land parcels belonging to male headed households. When women are involved as agricultural labourers they appear to be remunerated less than men, which has negative implications for women headed households in particular. According to data collected by IFAD in the late 1980s, women tend to receive only 50% of men's wages in Mauritania, Sudan and Zimbabwe, while they receive 90% of men's wages in the Congo. In Morocco, there are large variations in agricultural wages depending on the season, the region, the nature of the work, and gender. Women and girls are generally paid less than men and boys, despite a minimum wage guaranteed by the government. In Sudan, wages are lower for women than for men, which is also due to fact that they are assigned work in the lower paying traditional sector. In Namibia, to meet basic food needs, households are obliged to augment production from subsistence agriculture with cash or in-kind income from other sources. The main contributor to subsistence across households is direct cash income from formal employment. Female-headed households have fewer members employed formally or informally than maleheaded households. In addition, rising unemployment and social breakdown of the family have shrunk the amount and frequency of remittances. Consequences of rural poverty Rural poverty has implications for food availability and intake. For those countries where data was provided, the nutritional situation of rural women and children is worse than in urban areas, and in some cases, children in rural female headed households are particularly vulnerable. In the Congo, between 1987 and 1992, the number of female farmers who suffered chronic dietary insufficiencies increased from 23 to 47%, while the number of growth children of farmers increased from 30 to 36%. In Morocco, a 1987 study showed that, of children under five years of age, 35.7% suffered from malnutrition in rural areas, while the rate was only 21.4% in urban areas. In Zimbabwe, rural 18

19 children are at greater risk of severe or moderated malnutrition, are twice as likely to be stunted, and have lower weight for age than urban children. It appears that in certain countries, children of female-headed households have less food security and lower nutritional levels. In Namibia, female-headed households have more dependents but less means to obtain food and so face the greatest risk of poor nutrition among children, nursing mothers and the elderly. Data from selected rural centres in 1990 indicated that under nourishment and stunting were more prevalent in children of female-headed households, and that malnutrition levels were considerably higher in rural areas. In Tanzania, female headed households tend to have less food security than their male counterparts. The 1992 drought impacted more strongly on women and children, especially girls, who tend to eat less in times of food shortages. Women in Africa work from twelve to thirteen more hours a week than men, often averaging over 65 hours. The impact of such long working hours on women's health, coupled with low access to health services, needs to be examined further. Inequality in women's access to, and participation in, the definition of economic structures and the productive process itself Rural land ownership The lack of access to land remains a major constraint for women farmers in Africa, and land reform programmes, as well as the tendency towards the break up and privatization of communal land holdings -- especially in areas of tribal and customary tenures, have led almost exclusively to the transfer of land rights to male heads of households (FAO, 1990a: 12). Even in countries where ownership and inheritance laws have been reformed in favour of women, in practice women do not necessarily have more rights to land, as local customs and lack of information act as barriers. Customary land use practices can determine women's access to land in terms of land use rights or ownership. In Mauritania, under customary law black African women do not have land property rights. In Namibia, rural women continue to gain access to land through men, and in Zimbabwe, women have no direct access to primary land use rights in the communal areas. While women do have legal rights of access in the freehold land sectors, they generally lack the economic resources to acquire such land. In the Sudan, the majority of subsistence farmers operate under customary tenure in which women are accorded usufruct rights to land. In Africa, women tend to be unpaid labourers on their husbands' land and cultivate separate plots in their own right at the same time. However, while women may work their own plots, they may not necessarily have ownership and thus their rights might not survive the death of their spouse (Bullock, 1993;45). In the case of male migration and de facto women heads of households, conflicts may arise as prevailing land rights rarely endow women with stable property or user rights (IFAD, 1993:25). 19